Easily openable sealed plastic closure

ABSTRACT

A tear line in a plastic cover for a container comes to a point, which point is located at the upper surface of the cover. An integral projection overhangs this point and the projection has a handle. The initial part of the tear line from said point is between the projection and the surface. A dust cover is formed of plastic and is hinged to the main cover of plastic by an integral strap. The main body has a dispensing opening. The dust cover has downwardly extending flanges fitting about the main body with detents serving to releasably hold the two together. These flanges restrict the movement of the dust cover with respect to the main body except by a movement in a single direction. Two spaced locks are formed by integral arms on the body which engage abutments on the dust cover to normally prevent movement of the dust cover in the opening direction.

United States Patent 1191 Song [111 3,744,675 1451 July 10, 1973 [76] inventor:

[ EASILY OPENABLE SEALED PLASTIC CLOSURE John S. Song, 2 Williamburg Circle, Evanston, 111. 60203 [22] Filed: June 2, 1971 211 Appl. No.: 149,144

52 0.8. Ci. 222/153, 222 541 511 1111. c1. 865d 47/10, 867d 5/32 58 Field 61 Search 222/153, 541, 543, 222/562; 221/154; 220/27, 38.5, 54, 60 R, 31 s, 59; 215/9 [56] y References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,282,477 1 1/1966 Henchert 220/60 R X 3,567,06] 3/1971 Song 222/541 X 3,424,341 1/1969 Slapnik 220/60-R 3,113,706 12/1963 Wickman 222/543 3,208,620 1 9/1965 Herdering 220/60 R x Primary Examiner-Robert Ii ileeves Assistant Examiner-Francis J. Bartuska Attorney-Darbo Robertson & Vandenburgh [57 ABSTRACT A tear line in a plastic cover for a container comes to a point, which point is located at the upper surface of the cover. An integral projection overhangs this point and the projectionhas a handle. The initial part of the tear line from said point is between the projection and the surface.

A dust cover is formed of plastic and is hinged to the main cover of plastic by an integral strap. The main body has a dispensing opening. The dust cover has downwardly extending flanges fitting about the main body with detents serving to releasably hold the'two together. These flanges restrict the movement of the dust cover with respect to the main body except by a a movement in a single direction. Two spaced locks are formed by integral arms on the body which engage abutments on the dust'cover to normally preventmovement of the dust cover in the opening direction.

7 Claims, 13 Drawing-Figures EASILY OPENABLE SEALED PLASTIC CLOSURE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My previous US Pat. No. 3,567,061, dated Mar. 2, 1971 describes a method and apparatus for commencing the tearing of a score line in a plastic cover by bringing the score line to. a point out of the plane thereof. The illustrated embodiments worked very satisfactorily so long as the initial pulling force was applied in the right direction. However, because of the orientation of the parts, a person would invariably attempt to pull the handle in a direction such as to apparently cause a lifting of the area within the score line away from the main body of the cap. This would be just the wrong direction to obtain a breaking of the plastic at the score line and invariably all the user would do would be to be frustrated or deform the parts. Even when instructions were supplied, they were invariably ignored. The result was that the construction was not commercially usable.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an alternative embodiment, which incorporates the novel concepts of the aforesaid patent, while avoiding the operational problem that was encountered in connection with the embodiment of the invention as disclosed in the patent. In the present invention, the pulling force which must be applied to the handle to obtain a separation is in a direction substantially normal to the surface of the cap. This isthe direction (as oriented with respect to the cap) that individuals thought they should pull the handle of the previous embodiment. By a novel reorientation of the components the structure is now adapted so that the direction of pull that people seem to believe would be the proper direction, is, in fact, the proper direction.

There is growing concern over the harm to children each year by reason of their ingesting chemicals from bottlesthat they find in the home. This isproducing a demand for a container closure that can be opened and closed by an adult, but not by children. Also, children are attracted to such items as pull tabs on containers that they see on shelves, etc., such as in a grocery store. They will seek to imitate what they have seen others do and, by unthinkingly performing the act before theitem is purchased will render it unfit for sale by reason of its having been opened. In the present invention there is a dust cap or closure integrally formed of plastic with the main plastic cover. This dust cap remains as a closure afterthe sealed closure is removed and also conceals the pull handle for opening the sealed container. The dust cap is held in place by a set of spaced locks which are so arranged as to be substantially impossible to be operated by the limited extent of finger dexterity that a child will have. These locks require several operations to be performed simultaneously and, therefore, a significant amount of manual dexterity; however, that which is not beyond the capabilities of the average adult.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention with the dust cap closed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the dust cap raised;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial plan view as seen at line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section as seen at line 6-6 of FIG. 5; I FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial section as viewed at line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG.'8 is an enlarged partial section as viewed at line 8--8.of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial section as viewed at line 9-9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment having spaced locks for the dust cap;

FIG. 11 is an end view as seen at line 11-11 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a view corresponding to FIG. 11 but showing the unlocking of the cap;v and FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the dust cap partially raised.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The following disclosure is offered for public disseminationin return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacy and aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent which is to cover each ne'w inventive concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further improvements. The claims at the end hereof are intended asthe chief aid toward this purpose, as it is these that meet the requirement of pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 there is .a body, generally 15, which is secured to the top of a container 16. A dust cap, generally 17, is secured to the body 15 by an integral hinge l8. Detent means are formed by projections 19 on the body which interengage with projections 20 on the cap 17 to releasably hold the two in the closed position illustrated in FIG. 1. By applying a force upwardly on the cap in the FIG. 1 position, the projections slip past each other to allow movement to the FIG. 2 open position. The body, cap, hinge, etc., are molded of plastic. l

The body 15 includes a top wallarea 22 within which is a removable closure 23 defined by .a score line24.

The term score line is herein applied to a line of areduced thickness of the material, whether it :isproduced by cutting, molding, etc. The top wall .area also extends out to formthe base .25 of aspoutfor pouring purposes. A projection 26 and handle27 are'integral with therclosure part 23. A rim 28 .extendsaboutareaslz, 23 and and also defines the sidesof ithe pouringspout.

The cap 17 has an outer flange3l which, when the bodyand cap are mated, fits about the rim .28 of the body. At the distal ends of flange 31 is a wall'32 which closes the end of the pouring spout. A :ring .33 .fits within the rim 28 of the body when the capis closedon the body.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 10-13 allofthe foregoing described parts are employed and the same numbers have been applied except with a prime after the numbers. lnaddition tothe locking means .provided by the projections 19', 20', this embodiment includes two additional locks. One of these isdefinedby spacedprojections 34 on the cap 17' definingca pair ofabutments and an arm 35 on the body which arm has a head forming abutments 36. In the locked position the arm extends between the two spaced abutments 34 with the abutments on the arm in contact with the two abutments 34. This is illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11. The lock on the other side is similarly formed by projections 37 with an arm 38 extending therebetween and having a head forming abutments 39.

The embodiment of FIGS. 10-13 is intended to provide a child-proof feature. It is based on the knowledge that the finger dexterity of a young person is nowhere near that of an average adult. Yet, a child is likely to be attracted to the operation of opening a container by removing a tear type closure, having seen the adults do it. Upon seeing such a container in a store with the container being relatively accessible, there is great temptation for a child to proceed to open the containers and this is not beyond the accomplishments of the child with the use of the invention of my prior patent on a plastic container. As a consequence, there is a need to child-proof the container. I

It must be noted that the rim 28 of the body nests between ring 33 and outer flange 31 of the dust cap. This restricts the opening movement of the dust cap to a single direction away from the body. Each of the three locks impedes the movement of the dust cap away from the body in this single direction. To permit the dust cap to be raised the two spaced locks must be unlatched by movements of each in a direction opposite to that of the movement ofthe other. Thus, one lock must be moved by aforce applied in the direction indicated by arrow 40, and the other must be moved by a force applied in the direction indicated by arrow 41. These locks are all an integral part of the plastic from which the body and dust cap are formed. The plastic is somewhat resilient so that the arms 35, 38 can be moved; however, that resiliency will hold the arms in the position illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 unless they are restrained in the displaced position illustrated in FIG. 12. While the two side locks are held in their respective unlocked position, a force must be simultaneously applied to the dust cap in the direction indicated by the arrow 42 to separate the latches formed by projections 19, 20. While this latter could be a friction fit, it is preferred that detent type latches are employed. This requirement that three different operations be performed at once in order to raise the cap will normally suffice to defeat a young child from obtaining access to the handle 27 of the sealed closure. This protection is most important with sealed closures because it is readily apparent to the purchaser that the closure has been tampered with and the purchaser will not then'take the item.

The score line that defines the closure23 to be removed leaves a thin section 46 which is removed or severed by tearing. In order to get the tearing started,

this section 46 is made a contiguous part of a preceding The two thin sections 47 merge into a single thin lead-in section 50. The thinness in this instance is formed by the mold projecting in from each side. The distal end of the lead-in section 50 slants rearwardly and downwardly, as indicated at 51, to form, in effect, a point at the edge where the lead-in 50 meets the main surface 22. Above the lead-in section 50 is a grad ual enlargement 52. Above the distal end of the lead-in section 50 a handle 53 forms a part of the abutment 26.

With an even, steady upward pull on handle 53, as indicated by the arrow 54 in FIG. 2, there is a tearing force applied to the edge where the slanted distal end 51 of the section 50 meets the upper surface 22 of the top plastic wall. At this edge it is relatively easy to commence a tearing. The tearing once commenced will proceed to the left in FIG. 3 for the length of the lead-in section 50 and then will continue along the two diverging thin sections 47. Upon reaching the juncture of the thin sections 47 with the thin sections 46 (the point illustrated in FIG. 6) the tearing will proceed downwardly at this juncture and then out along the two thin sections 46. Ultimately the entire closure portion 23 will be separated from the remainder of the body and can be lifted out and discarded.

It is important to note that the pull required to commence the tearing is in a generally upward direction (substantially normal to the upper face 22 of the body). This is the direction that exeprience has shown users expect to pull in order to achieve a separation of the closure from the remainder of the body. It was because of their efforts to pull in thisdirection that resulted in their failing to operate the embodiment illustrated in the aforementioned patent, since a pull in that relative direction was not the pull required in the described embodiment in order to commence a tearing of the score line.

I claim:

1. In a closure arrangement for a container having a wall area of plastic of a given thickness with a score line in said plastic to define a relatively thin crosssection forming a line of tear surrounding a removable closure part, with the plastic defining said score line being brought to a point at an exposed plastic edge to facilitate starting the tearing of the plastic and a handle adjacent said point and secured to the plastic adjacent said point for applying a pulling force for said tearing of the plastic, the improvement comprising:

said wall area having an outer face, said outer face having a portion along one side of said score line with said portion being contiguous with the score line and on the opposite side of the score line from the closure part, said portion being generally planar with the closure part, a projection integral with the closure part of said wall area and having a portion thereof spaced outwardly from said outer face at said one side, a part of said score line, including said point, being between said portion of said projection and said portion of said outer face, said handle being secured to said projection.

2. In an arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein adjacent said point there is a recess on the side of said wall area opposite said face, said recess extending up into said projection so as to define a thin plastic section extending outwardly from said face and between the face and projection, said thin section being a part of said score line.

necting the dust cover and the body, said locking means including two arms each forming a part of an individual lock and resiliently urged to the locking positions, said arms being movable against said urging to respective unlocking position, said lock means being constructed so that each arm must be moved in a different direction from the other in order to unlock the respective lock, said locking means also including detent means connecting the cover and the body and requiring a force to be applied to the cover and body to separate the two, whereby at least three different actions must be simultaneously performed to remove the cap from the body thereby protecting said handle against being accessible except to someone having significant manual dexterity.

5. In a plastic closure arrangement for a container wherein there is a plastic body part defining a dispensing'opening, a plastic dust cap part fitting on said body and covering said dispensing opening, means preventing the separation of said parts except by movement in a given direction, and a releasable lock holding said parts against movement in said direction, the improvement wherein said releasable lock comprises:

two members on one of said parts, integral therewith and defining abutments, two members on the other of said parts, integral therewith and defining abutments, a specific two of said members including arms projecting outwardlyfrom the respective part and having the abutments adjacent the distal ends of said arms, the abutments of said specific two members contacting the abutments of the other two members to prevent movement of said cap member in said direction, said arms being resilient so that the arms can be moved to displace the abutments thereof from the abutments of the other two members, said arms being spaced from each other so that they must be moved individually to achieve said displacement; and

detent means releasably connecting the cap part and the body part and holding the two together even after the lock means has been released, whereby while holding the lock means released an additional force must be simultaneously applied to disconnect the detent means and obtain a separation of the dust cap part from the body part.

6. A plastic closure arrangement comprising a plastic body having an area defined by a score line which area can be removed by tearing along the score line to leave a dispensing opening, said body including a handle attached to said area, a plastic dust cover over said body and the handle thereof, and releasable locking means connecting the dust cover and the body, said locking means including two arms each forming a part of an individual lock and resiliently urged to the locking positions, said arms being movable against said biasing to respective unlocking position, said locking means being constructed so that each arm must be moved in a different direction from the other in order to unlock the respective lock, said locking means also including detent means connecting the cover and the body and requiring a force to be applied to the cover and body to separate the two, whereby at least three different actions must be simultaneously performed to remove the cap from the body thereby protecting said handle against being accessible except to someone having significant manual dexterity.

7. An arrangement as setforth in claim 6, wherein said body has two side walls, said cover having two side walls each adjacent a respective side wall of the body thereby defining two pairs of side walls with each pair consisting of one body side wall and one cover side wall, each arm extending outwardly from one side wall of each pair respectively and being normally in juxtaposition to the exterior of the other side wall of the respective pair, said other side wall of each pair having external spaced abutments positioned at opposite sides of the respective arm with the proximal end of said arm being at one side of said abutments and the distal end of said arm being at the other side of said abutments, each arm having projections on its distal end, which projections overlie the respective abutments. 

1. In a closure arrangement for a container having a wall area of plastic of a given thickness with a ''''score'''' line in said plastic to define a relatively thin cross-section forming a line of tear surrounding a removable closure part, with the plastic defining said score line being brought to a point at an exposed plastic edge to facilitate starting the tearing of the plastic and a handle adjacent said point and secured to the plastic adjacent said point for applying a pulling force for said tearing of the plastic, the improvement comprising: said wall area having an outer face, said outer face having a portion along one side of said score line with said portion being contiguous with the score line and on the opposite side of the score line from the closure part, said portion being generally planar with the closure part, a projection integral with the closure part of said wall area and having a portion thereof spaced outwardly from said outer face at said one side, a part of said score line, including said point, being between said portion of said projection and said portion of said outer face, said handle being secured to said projection.
 2. In an arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein adjacent said point there is a recess on the side of said wall area opposite said face, said recess extending up into said projection so as to define a thin plastic section extending outwardly from said face and between the face and projection, said thin section being a part of said ''''score'''' line.
 3. In an arrangement as set forth in claim 2, wherein the major portion of said ''''score'''' line is between the faces of said wall area, and including a thin transition part of said plastic between said part and said major portion of said ''''score'''' line.
 4. In an arrangement as set forth in claim 3, wherein said wall area and its closure arrangement are part of a plastic body, and including a plastic dust cover over said body and the handle thereof, and releasable locking means connecting the dust cover and the body, said locking means including two arms each forming a part of an individual lock and resiliently urged to the locking positions, said arms being movable against said urging to respective unlocking position, said lock means being constructed so that each arm must be moved in a different direction from the other in order to unlock the respective lock, said locking means also including detent means connecting the cover and the body and reQuiring a force to be applied to the cover and body to separate the two, whereby at least three different actions must be simultaneously performed to remove the cap from the body thereby protecting said handle against being accessible except to someone having significant manual dexterity.
 5. In a plastic closure arrangement for a container wherein there is a plastic body part defining a dispensing opening, a plastic dust cap part fitting on said body and covering said dispensing opening, means preventing the separation of said parts except by movement in a given direction, and a releasable lock holding said parts against movement in said direction, the improvement wherein said releasable lock comprises: two members on one of said parts, integral therewith and defining abutments, two members on the other of said parts, integral therewith and defining abutments, a specific two of said members including arms projecting outwardly from the respective part and having the abutments adjacent the distal ends of said arms, the abutments of said specific two members contacting the abutments of the other two members to prevent movement of said cap member in said direction, said arms being resilient so that the arms can be moved to displace the abutments thereof from the abutments of the other two members, said arms being spaced from each other so that they must be moved individually to achieve said displacement; and detent means releasably connecting the cap part and the body part and holding the two together even after the lock means has been released, whereby while holding the lock means released an additional force must be simultaneously applied to disconnect the detent means and obtain a separation of the dust cap part from the body part.
 6. A plastic closure arrangement comprising a plastic body having an area defined by a ''''score'''' line which area can be removed by tearing along the score line to leave a dispensing opening, said body including a handle attached to said area, a plastic dust cover over said body and the handle thereof, and releasable locking means connecting the dust cover and the body, said locking means including two arms each forming a part of an individual lock and resiliently urged to the locking positions, said arms being movable against said biasing to respective unlocking position, said locking means being constructed so that each arm must be moved in a different direction from the other in order to unlock the respective lock, said locking means also including detent means connecting the cover and the body and requiring a force to be applied to the cover and body to separate the two, whereby at least three different actions must be simultaneously performed to remove the cap from the body thereby protecting said handle against being accessible except to someone having significant manual dexterity.
 7. An arrangement as set forth in claim 6, wherein said body has two side walls, said cover having two side walls each adjacent a respective side wall of the body thereby defining two pairs of side walls with each pair consisting of one body side wall and one cover side wall, each arm extending outwardly from one side wall of each pair respectively and being normally in juxtaposition to the exterior of the other side wall of the respective pair, said other side wall of each pair having external spaced abutments positioned at opposite sides of the respective arm with the proximal end of said arm being at one side of said abutments and the distal end of said arm being at the other side of said abutments, each arm having projections on its distal end, which projections overlie the respective abutments. 